I RATE ADS

sjbooher: Ok, everybody, I’m pretty sure I’m throwing this in Ad Exec Masturbation. Ad Exec 1: “Hey, we’ll get big football players to do ballet!” Ad Exec 2: “Yeah, and we’ll have them dance with our colorful lizards, and the lizards will act cool like you’d expect the football players to be!” Ad Exec 3: “Yeah, and it’ll be colorful! And 3-D! And no one will know! Let’s spend millions! Awesome!”. Nope. Terrible. F.

jtherkal: Ugh. Ray Lewis, really? You need to ask for a bigger contract or something, because this is downright embarassing. I’ve never been a fan of these stupid dancing lizards, and this spot made me want to rub hot wing sauce in my eyes and punch my TV–and I love my TV. F-.

However, I think the 3-D thing needs to be rated on its own. While I agree that not many people knew about it, if you did, it was the probably the biggest phenomenon at your Super Bowl party. At my house, someone brought enough 3-D glasses for everyone, so people were wearing them around all night. And then when the commercials finally came on it was a moment of great excitement. Until the Sobe commercial. Then it was a moment of great disappointment.

Still, they did a bad job letting people know they needed glasses. B.

The Mouth:
Talk about an inflated sense of self-worth. With this spot, Under Armour has officially taken themselves and their role in the sports world waaaaaaaaaay too seriously. And the number of a’s I used in that “way” is completely accurate. In the beginning they claim, “We started this thing.” No, you didn’t. Not even close. You’re so late to the party that a lot of people have already come and gone home.

And that speech at the end, with that guy talking to his “legions” in Future City, I have to wonder if they’re almost making fun of themselves. Because if they’re serious–which I pray to Allah they’re not–someone should raid the Under Armour compound and break up their roid-fueled, meathead, James Jones militia.

“You are the new prototype! We are UnderArmour! The future is oooouuuurs!” Ridiculous. F-.

The Hawk:
First of all, a little background, notice when Cyrus says “The Future Is Ours”:

This is the famous speech from The Warriors, a very popular movie with Shaq, athletes, and pretty much the entire Hip-Hop generation. Ding-ding-ding– Under Armour’s core audience. Mix in this speech scene with the standard Under Armour “protect this house” look-and-feel, and you have this new ad. To me, this is just Under Armour doing what they do. It fits in well with their overall branding with the whole future/prototype schtick introducing what appears to be a bit of a product expansion. The only minor difference was the use of Ray Lewis, where they usually only stick with unknown guys. The Warriors inspiration is a bit over-used at this point, but it works. I’m overall neutral to this one. C.

Also, Under Armour DEFINITELY did start this… they were the first to produce and popularize this type of athletic skin-tight clothing.